Reishi Mushroom Grow Kit

What is more beautiful than growing reishi mushrooms? Grow your own with a reishi mushroom grow kit!

Beautiful, waxy, reddish-brown shelf-like fruit bodies are a highly prized immune-boosting medicinal used to support well being. Reishi is great for making teas and tinctures but it is not used for culinary purposes often. Each reishi mushroom grow kit is 6 pounds of fully-colonized substrate that is certified organic. You can fruit 1-2 pounds of fresh reishi mushrooms throughout the life of this kit. You will get multiple flushes over the course of months, and the reishi will grow in an interesting “antler” shape.

Ideal growing conditions for using the reishi mushroom grow kit:

75-95 Degrees Fahrenheit, 80-90% relative humidity.

Light: Reishi mushrooms need light to grow, but it does not and should not be direct sunlight. If you can comfortably read a book in the location where your reishi mushroom grow kit is located, then you have enough light for it to grow. 

Humidity: You should mist your reishi mushroom grow kit a few times each day so it keeps the humidity level appropriate for the kit to fruit. As mentioned above, a relative humidity in the 80-90% range is ideal. You will see little baby reishi mushrooms forming after about two weeks, and that is what we call the pinning stage. These baby mushrooms will continue to grow until they are full-sized and ready to harvest. 

If you are having a hard time getting the humidity levels high enough for the reishi to fruit, there are a couple of options. One option is to make a humidity tent using a plastic bag. To do this, loosely drape a plastic bag over your reishi mushroom grow kit and lightly mist it with water as you do with the kit. If you use a humidity tent like this, ensure that the reishi mushroom grow kit is still able to receive fresh air. If the kit is not able to receive fresh air, then it will not fruit. 

Another option is to use a plastic tote or bin. You can place your reishi mushroom grow kit into the plastic tote with the top off. Then mist the sides of the tote to keep them wet, and the bottom too if you would like. Just make sure the kit does not sit in standing water. Using a tote with the kit inside and a small fan blowing over the top of the tote has been a method many people have used to increase humidity levels indoors.

CO2 level: The levels of CO2 greatly affect the shape of the fruit bodies. You need to have fresh air flow for the mushrooms or you may end up with mushrooms that grow poorly. Allow the kit to get fresh air so that the mushrooms can grow properly. 

The reishi mushroom grow kit begins growing in the antler phase. The reishi mushroom morphs from the antler shape to the conch shape during growth. A lot of time this happens when the mushroom is in a higher CO2 and lower light environment.

Cutting holes in your kit: You will need to cut holes in the plastic that your reishi mushroom kit comes in before you begin misting it. You can mist the substrate directly through the hole you make. We recommend using the broadside of the kit to cut the bags. 

Making tea and tincture with your reishi mushroom harvest

You can use your fresh reishi mushrooms to make tea or tincture. You can even dry your fresh reishi mushrooms for use over time. Here is how we make the reishi mushroom tincture we sell to our audience. 

We only use foraged fruiting bodies, mainly from ganoderma tsugae. These reishi tinctures are created using a triple extraction process that includes alcohol, and both hot and cold water. Some medicinal constituents from reishi are extracted only in water, while other healthful constituents are only extracted in alcohol. Using this triple extraction method is our attempt to get the most amount of constituencies in available liquid form for our customers.

To make a reishi tincture, First make a tea using hot water. This will help pull out the compounds stored in the mushroom that are water soluble. Not all compounds found in fungi are water soluble so the liquid and mushroom are separated and a second extraction method is used. 

The second part of making a reishi mushroom extract is soaking it in alcohol for 4-6 weeks to draw out any remaining compounds. Then the tea and water are combined to allow a final product that is about 25-35% alcohol. The tincture is then bottled and offered as a mushroom extract in liquid form. At this point the compounds can easily be absorbed into the body.

Buy your reishi mushroom growing kit today!

Learn more about reishi mushrooms:

• What is Reishi Mushroom Good For? A Look at Reishi Benefits
• Wild Mushroom Identification Pictures & Videos: Artist Conk & Reishi
• Reap the Benefits of Reishi Mushroom in 3 Ways